CCS has adapted its Metnet self-organising backhaul solution to host a small cell within a single, compact design. Designed to speed up deployment, the integrated unit will help mobile operators with the process of site acquisition. It will be shown for the first time at the CCS stand (7B67) at MWC 2016.

Site acquisition for outdoor small cells is currently a slow and difficult process as separate small cell and backhaul units often exceed the size, weight and single-attachment restrictions for planning approvals. By combining a small cell with Metnet self-organising backhaul, the unit is smaller and more acceptable to local planning departments, to considerably speed up deployment.

At Mobile World Congress, CCS will show the first integrated unit, which includes an LTE small cell from ip.access. The CCS Metnet backhaul platform will host small cells in a universal design that utilise licensed or unlicensed spectrum, including LTE-A, LTE-U, MulteFire, WiFi and ultimately 5G variants.

CEO and Co-Founder of CCS Steve Greaves commented: “By combining a small cell with our unique self-organising backhaul, we offer a total solution for mobile operators as well as enabling new market entrants. We’re pleased to be collaborating with ip.access on this first integrated unit and look forward to showing it on our stand at MWC.”

“Our mission at ip.access is to simplify small cell deployment”, said Malcolm Gordon, CEO, ip.access. “Site acquisition and planning approvals are two of the biggest barriers facing urban small cells today. By integrating our 4G small cell with CCS’ backhaul we’re providing a one-box solution which minimises footprint, simplifies installation, and helps operators speed up the deployment process.”

The new design offers the same self-organising microwave backhaul, with high capacity and low latency, flexible synchronisation, high availability and resiliency. The CCS Metnet system operates in a single frequency channel with no radio planning required. Each unit has a wide 270-degree field of view and supports multiple connections, so there’s no need for manual alignment and only one is required per site. This makes it quick and low-cost to deploy, which is crucial when operators will ultimately need to roll out thousands of small cells. Each node is capable of providing GPS-derived local master synchronisation, with distributed timing recovery in the event of GPS failures.

The integrated ip.access 4G small cell is available in different regional variants, each supporting 5 LTE frequency bands with channel bandwidths of up to 20 MHz.

The unit will be on display at the CCS stand (7B67) and the ip.access stand (7C60) at MWC from the 22-25 February 2016.

About ip.access

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, ip.access has been creating and deploying small cell solutions for more than fifteen years. The company has products and solutions live in over 100 customers’ networks around the world.

The company’s success is built on its ability to innovate beyond the standard. As Small Cells have become the accepted standard for next generation high-density radio access, ip.access has maintained its position with a series of innovations of proven value. From its beginnings in GSM over packet-based backhaul, through residential femto, self-organisation and monetisable multi-operator solutions for LTE, ip.access has consistently been in the vanguard of radio access.

The company has an end-to-end deployment philosophy that integrates the small cell access points of all technologies with access gateways and comprehensive network management and performance tools. With a strong track record of working with trusted partners on integrated solutions, both product and services led, ip.access unlocks spectrum value for all its customers.